The Cardinals have picked CB Jorrick Calvin out of Troy with the 201st pick (6th round) of the NFL Draft.  Calvin is a small guy at 5’10″, 184 pounds and he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  He was academically inelgible last season.  He doesn’t have much of a track record as he only played one year in college.  He had 62 tackles, 1 forced fumble and 2 interceptions in 2008 for Troy.  He also returned 22 punts for 149 yards (6.8 avg) and 27 kickoff returns for 693 yards (25.7 avg) with 1 TD return in 2008.  The Cardinals hope that Calvin is smart enough to pick up the playbook and help them in the secondary and on special teams down the road.

The Cardinals have picked QB John Skelton out of Fordham with the 155th pick (5th round) of the NFL Draft.  He is a big guy at 6’5″, 244 pounds and he’s got good mobility despite not being especially fast running a 4.9 40.  Skelton is a gamer with a good throwing arm.  Many scouts have compared him to Joe Flacco of the Ravens as they both played for really small schools but were standouts there.  Skelton played in 11 games (all starts) for Fordham last season and he completed 284 of 441 passes (64.4%) for 3,708 yards with 26 TD passes and 10 INTs.  He has played in 43 games (41 starts) in his four years at Fordham in which he completed 802 of 1,363 passes (58.8%) for 9,923 yards with 69 TD passes and 36 interceptions.  The Cardinals would like to bring Skelton along slowly but that will depend on how well Matt Leinart and Derek Anderson play ahead of him on the depth chart.

The Cardinals have picked OLB O’Brien Schofield out of Wisconsin with the 130th pick (4th round) of the NFL Draft.  Is a great athlete when he’s healthy as he runs a 4.6 40 despite being 6’2″, 238 pounds.  He tore ligaments in his left knee at practices for the Senior Bowl so he might not be ready to start the season for the Cardinals.  He played in 13 games (all starts) at Wisconsin last season and he had 62 tackles, 24.5 tackles for a loss, 12 sacks, 1 batted down pass, he forced 3 fumbles and he recovered a fumble.  In his four years with the Badgers, Schofield played in 44 games (26 starts) in which he had 110 tackles, 33 tackles for a loss, 17 sacks, he batted down 2 passes, forced 4 fumbles and he recovered a fumble.  Schofield has a huge upside and this was a pick for the future for the Cardinals as he won’t likely be able to help them much in 2010 because of his knee.

The Cardinals have traded 28-year old CB Bryant McFadden to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 5th round pick in the NFL Draft.  The Cardinals used the pick on QB John Skelton out of Fordham.  McFadden played in 16 games for the Cardinals in his only year with them last season.  He had 69 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss and he defensed 15 passes for the Cardinals last year.  The Cardinals were not happy with McFadden’s play in 2009 and you can tell because they pretty much gave him away.

The Cardinals picked WR Andre Roberts out of the Citadel with the 88th overall pick (3rd round) of the NFL Draft.  Roberts is on the small side at 5’10″, 192 pounds but he runs a 4.49 40 which shows decent speed.  He played in 11 games (all starts) for the Citadel last season in which he caught 77 passes for 792 yards (10.3 avg) with 8 TD grabs.  Roberts stepped up against better competition in his time at the Citadel (vs. Clemson and North Carolina) easing the concern about him playing at such a small school.  Roberts played in 45 games (36 starts) in his four years at the Citadel and he caught 285 passes for 3,743 yards (13.1 avg) with 37 TD grabs.  Roberts will fit in with the Cardinals in the slot where he could help them this season as essentially the team’s #3 WR allowing Steve Breaston to go into the starting lineup to replace Anquan Boldin.  Roberts will also get the chance to win the punt return job in training camp.  This was another solid pick for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals have selected OLB Daryl Washington out of TCU with the 47th overall pick (2nd round) in the NFL Draft.  Washington is a tad small at 6’1″, 226 but he makes up for his lack of size with his athletic ability.  Washington is very fast and he has a non stop motor.  He can cover RBs and TE out of the backfield on passes and he gets into the opposing backfield quite often on blitzes.  Washington played in 13 games (all starts) for the Horned Frogs last season in which he made 109 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, he had 2 sacks, broke up 1 pass and he had 3 interceptions.  In Washington’s four years at TCU he played in 50 games (15 starts) in which he had 222 tackles, 20.5 tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks, he broke up 6 passes and he had 4 interceptions.  Washington played a lot of inside linebacker in college but because of his size he projects to the outside in the NFL.  I really like this pick for the Cardinals as Washington should be able to help the defense and special teams right away for them.

The Arizona Cardinals selected 6’2″, 329 pound DT Dan Williams out of Tennessee with the 26th pick of the first round of the NFL Draft.  Williams is the kind of lineman the Cardinals have been looking for as they need a guy to take on blockers to open things up for the linebackers to make more plays.  Williams played in 13 games (all starts) for the Volunteers last season and he had 70 tackles, 9 tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks and he recovered 1 fumble.  In four years with Tennessee, Williams played in 45 games (32 starts) in which he had 138 tackles, 25 tackles for a loss, he had 7 sacks, batted down 1 pass and he recovered 1 fumble.  Don’t look for Williams to have big tackle totals in the pros but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a defensive asset as long as he demands a double team.

The Arizona Cardinals have been one of the busiest teams in the NFL this off-season which has been both good and bad.  This weekend it should be all good for the Cardinals who have 3 of the top 98 picks in the NFL Draft and 8 overall picks.  The Cardinals will likely be looking for help at OT, WR and CB this weekend.  With that in mind I think that likely targets will be CB Patrick Robinson, WR Dez Bryant, OT Bruce Campbell and OT Charles Brown. 

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  CB, Nate Robinson, Florida State

The Cardinals have traded 29-year old WR Anquan Boldin and a 5th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft to the Ravens for a 3rd and 4th round pick in the 2010 draft.  Boldin played in 15 games for the Cardinals last season and he caught 84 passes for 1,024 yards (12.2 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 12 yards (4.0 ypc) last season.  Boldin played in 95 games in his 7 years with the Cardinals in which he caught 586 passes for 7,520 yards (12.8 avg) with 44 TD grabs.  He also carried the ball 36 times for 209 yards (5.8 ypc) with 1 TD run with the Cardinals.  The Cardinals will be counting on their young receivers to step up with Boldin going on to the Ravens in 2010.

1st round pick Beanie Wells (RB) was very solid for the Cardinals sharing time with Tim Hightower.  He played in 16 games for the Cardinals last season and he carried the ball 176 times for 793 yards (4.5 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  Wells also caught 12 passes for 143 yards (11.9 avg) as a rookie.  The sky is the limit for Wells as he can do it all.  The 2nd best pick for the Cardinals last April didn’t come until the 7th round (#240 overall) which is where they selected RB/KR LaRod Stephens-Howling.  Stephens-Howling played in all 16 games for the Cardinals last season in which he carried the ball 6 times for 15 yards (2.5 ypc) and he caught 10 passes for 83 yards (8.3 avg) with a TD.  He also returned 52 kickoffs for 1,257 yards (24.2 avg) with a 99-yard TD return.  He also had 22 tackles on special teams for the Cardinals.  Safety Rashard Johnson was picked in the 3rd round (#95 overall) out of Alabama.  He played in 10 games for the Cardinals and he made 20 tackles and defensed 1 pass.  CB Greg Toler was selected in the 4th round (#131 overall) out of St. Paul’s (VA).  He played in 13 games for the Cardinals last season and he made 11 tackles, defensed 2 passes and he had 1 interception.  Linebacker Will Davis was selected in the sixth round out of Illinois (#204 overall).  He played in 11 games for the Cardinals last season and he made 19 tackles and he also had 2 sacks.  Linebacker Cody Brown (2nd round, #63 overall) out of U.Conn. missed last season due to injury but the Cardinals like him a lot.  Guards Herman Johnson (5th round, #167 overall) out of LSU and Trevor Canfield (7th round, #254 overall) out of Cincinnati didn’t play in any games last season for the Cardinals.

GRADE FOR 2009:  B-

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B+